THU, 26 AUG — 8 PM
Followed by a film discussion with Yüksel Yavuz at 9:30 PM
»Ben Kimim?« // Supporting film | Video art | 2004 | Duration — 4 min
“Who am I?” “What am I?” “Am I German? Am I Turkish?” — An attempt to define oneself through words and images. The video artist examines her identity in her video Ben Kimim?.
»Aprilkinder« // Main film | Feature film | 1998 | Duration — 84 min
Images from the day-to-day life of a Turkish family in Hamburg in the late 1990s. The parents, who left their Kurdish village years ago, try in their own way to preserve their traditions, even in a major German city far from their home. The mother becomes the dominant figure, while the father has retreated into silence. The concerns of their grown-up children Cem, Mehmet and Dilan are completely different — three Kurdish-German siblings who are trying to find their place between the new homeland and the old, the new culture and the old. In the process, their desire to go their own way becomes a crucial stress test.
April Children is the first feature film by Turkish-German auteur Yüksel Yavuz and was commended by the BERLIN & BEYOND FILM FESTIVAL in San Francisco, as well as receiving the MAX OPHÜLS AWARD. It paints a haunting portrait of a generation caught between two cultures.
FRI, 27 AUG — 8 PM
»Elene« // Supporting film | Short film | 2016 | Duration — 11 min | original language with English subtitles
Sixteen-year-old Elene is an illegal immigrant from Georgia who works on a tea plantation in Turkey. Various encounters make her feel threatened, and she tries to make herself invisible in this foreign country. But it isn’t as easy as she thinks.
»En Garde« // Main film | Feature film | 2004 | Duration — 94 min
The film is a sensitive social portrait of two quite different girls who don’t have much in common apart from the place where they get to know one another: a community home for girls. Alice, an introvert, perceives her surroundings differently to other people thanks to her hypersensitive hearing. Berivan has been living alone in Germany since her family’s failed attempt to escape Kurdistan. But the burgeoning friendship between the girls threatens to fall apart when Berivan falls in love. The situation escalates, and there is tragedy in store. A moving story of friendship and dreams, and how trust can be gained and lost. Ayşe Polat, an auteur of the Berlin School who has received several awards, obtained the Silberner Leopard prize for her second feature film En Garde at the LOCARNO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL in 2004, and was awarded the Deutscher Kritikerpreis in 2005.
SAT, 28 AUG — 8 PM
»Lament« // Supporting film | Music Video | 2020 | Duration — 4 min
Lament is half a dream but highly real, intense as well as disturbing and deeply political. Video artist Burak Erkil combines the topics of transgender, sexuality and gentrification in a painterly way, is highly personal and socially relevant at the same time. His music video for the song Lament by the post-punk band She Past Away is not least a trance-like homage to video art itself.
»Aus dem Nichts« // Main film | Feature film | 2017 | Duration — 106 min
In the Fade (Aus dem Nichts) is the story of Katja, a broken woman from Hamburg whose mental state is in tatters after the brutal death of her husband Nuri and their son Rocco. Shattered, she tries to put the pieces of herself back together, forging a plan to seek justice — and using violence to do so. With great force and a deep sense of urgency, Hollywood actress Diane Kruger delivers a masterful performance — a troubled warrior taking matters into her own hands. Pain, rage, powerlessness.
In In the Fade, Fatih Akin delivers a fictionalised account of the NSU murders and the devastating negligence of the police and intelligence services in dealing with them. Instead of investigating suspicious indications of right-wing terrorism, the police set their sights on the victims’ relatives. But Fatih Akin’s film is not about the NSU murders themselves; he consistently focuses on the pain and suffer-ing of those left behind and the sheer impossibility of living with the pain. In the Fade is Fatih Akin’s follow-up to his previous film Head-On (Gegen die Wand), a powerful and spontaneous work. The film was shortlisted for an OSCAR in 2017 and received numerous prizes, including the DEUTSCHER FILMPREIS and a GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD. Diane Kruger won Best Actress at the CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
SUN, 29 AUG — 8 PM
»Frizör« // Supporting film | Short film | 2003 | Duration — 15 min
In 1964, Ahmet, a young Turkish man, alighted from the train in front of A. Rodrigues, a young Portuguese man. When the reception committee asked him if he was a guest worker, Ahmet politely replied “Ich Frizör” (“I barber”) from his phrase book. The Portuguese man said nothing and smiled to himself. A. Rodrigues be-
came the millionth guest worker, captured on newsreel cameras and awarded a motorbike as a prize. Ever since, the Portuguese man has become the symbol of the country’s ‘guest workers’, while Ahmet the barber became just another of the many young men sporting moustaches in Germany.
»Mein Vater, der Türke« // Main film | Documentary | 2006 | Duration — 74 min
It all started in the 1960s with a love story between a Turkish guest worker and a young German woman. Only when she fell pregnant did she discover that the good-looking chef was already married and had two daugh-ters back in Turkey. He went on holiday to Turkey and never came back. Thirty-eight years later, her son, the filmmaker Marcus Vetter, attempts to track down the father he has never known. He sets off for a small Anatolian mountain village to try and under-stand the history of where he came from. Marcus Vetter’s encounter with his Turkish family and his five sisters turns things upside down. With the help of their much longed-for brother, the sisters, who grew up without their father’s love, confront their father and share their feelings for the first time. And Vetter is finally able to ask his long-lost father the questions that have been on his mind his whole life.
My Father the Turk (Mein Vater, der Türke) won Best Documentary at the 12th TURKISH/GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL. In 2006, it won the PRIX EUROPA, and in 2007, it received the GOLDEN GATE AWARD at the SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
KÜNSTLERISCHE LEITUNG — Susanne Radelhoff | Canan Yilmaz
PRODUKTION — STUDIO MOSAIK | GASWERK WEIMAR
FÖRDERUNG — BUNDESMINISTERIUM DES INNEREN, FÜR BAU UND HEIMAT | DIE BEAUFTRAGTE DER BUNDESREGIERUNG FÜR KULTUR UND MEDIEN | NACHBARSCHAFTEN STÄRKEN — MITEINANDER IM QUARTIER | SOZIOKULTUR IM QUARTIER | BUNDESVERBAND SOZIOKULTUR | SPARKASSEN VERSICHERUNG | SPARKASSE MITTELTHÜRINGEN
